Trailblazer
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Objective
From a given piece of aluminum stock, design a marble maze. This design must use the CNC and push the boundaries of a maze through lateral thinking.
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Outcome
My maze takes the form of a topographic map of a mountain. The ball must “climb” to the top by tilting the maze in all three dimensions.
The Process
Ideation
As I hike, I often find myself wondering what it would be like to be the first person to stumble upon a breathtaking view and how they forged their path to get there. My first maze iterations took this trailblazing idea very literally, containing intertwining paths leading up a physical mountain. However, through lateral thinking, I landed on a maze that mimics the topography of a mountain and is more abstract.
CAM
This was my first experience with CAM and as a result I learned a ton. First, I learned how about designing for the CNC in that sharp internal corners are not feasible as there will always be a radius based on the smallest end mill you use. Second, I learned about the differences between pocket and adaptive clearing and when to use each. Third, I learned how to select type and size of tooling based on geometry. Finally, I learned how to properly set feeds and speeds.
CNC Machining
This was my first time ever machining on the CNC. I remember being extremely excited and extremely nervous I would screw something up. Unfortunately, the later came true, and I ended up breaking a 1/8” flat end mill. This ended up being a great lesson in the importance of flute length and knowing the largest depth of cut each tool will have to make.
Final Product
The final product ended up not turning out how I had hoped due to the broken tool in the middle of one of the final passes. It also ended up being nearly impossible to solve, equivalent to a Class 5 route on a mountain you could say. While it did not turn out as I hoped, I was proud of myself for not taking a safe route and know exactly how I would improve my maze in a subsequent iteration.
Skills Learned
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As a perfectionist, it pained me to not be allowed to fix the mistake I had made and end up with a flawed final product. However, I realized that in this process, I learned more than I would have if everything had gone smoothly. Ultimately, this experience developed me more as a designer than if I had played it safer with the initial maze design.
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This was my first experience using the CAM module in Fusion 360. It was incredibly overwhelming at first but with each additional tool and operation I became increasingly more comfortable.
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I went into machining absolutely terrified to mess up this incredibly expensive machine. Despite being incredibly intentional and careful with all the preliminary steps, mistakes still happen. In the moment, I felt awful about breaking the tool, but I realized I never would have fully understood the importance of flute length without experiencing the problem first hand. As such, I left this project with a much better understanding of how to use the CNC.